Gaspa, S: Contenitori neoassiri

This study, which brings to completion another important chapter of the author's research work on the Assyrian material culture, collects and analyzes the lexicon of the containers documented in the texts of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (9th-7th centuries BC). Through an interdisciplinary investigation involving a lexical analysis and a comparison of the textual data with the iconographical and archaeological evidence of the first millennium BC Assyrian utensils, the research presents an updated tool for the study of an important sector of the vocabulary and of the material culture of imperial Assyria. The book is divided into six sections: a lexical repertoire; an analytical part; a glossary; a section of appendixes; a number of tables; a catalogue of figures. A number of images of Neo-Assyrian containers from iconographical and archaeological evidence are also included in the book. Thanks to an in-depth evaluation of the textual data and to a comparison with the items represented in the first millennium BC Assyrian art as well as with the contemporary metal and ceramic evidence, the author suggests some identifications of the containers mentioned in the texts. The book also discusses the metrological notations of the vessel volumes and the potential of the use of the volumetric data in the interdisciplinary-based identification of the containers attested in the written sources. In addition, through the analysis of the Assyrian containers, the study sheds light on various important aspects of Assyrian life, from food storage and consumption to ritual dynamics and the symbolism of the vessels, from legal practices to the bureaucratic conventions used by the scribes. (Text in Italian)